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Some would ask how Obamapolitik could have already failed as Senator Obama has not yet been elected (and never will be!). It is rather simple, Obamapolitik and its three rules have already been employed during the Georgian crisis. The only difference is that it has not, as a policy, emanated from a single source. Let us recount the grand litany of failure that has been Obamapolitik thus far as Russia ignores the West at will.

From the first day of the invasion many of Obama’s idealogical allies in Europe, particularly those in Germany and France, as well as many liberals in the US, downplayed the Russian attack. Rather than condemn the invasion as the naked act of aggression that it is, the liberals and Europeans employed the hallowed Obamapolitik principle of moral relativism to render the Russians blameless. For example, many leading European news outlets painted Georgia as an aggressor as Der Spiegel did when it described the Georgian leader as “Mikhail Saakashvili, the young hothead sitting in the president’s chair in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.” Moreover, NBC, MSNBC and others have openly attacked President Bush for “taking sides”in this conflict (apparently this invasion, like rape in Islam, is the fault of the victim’s wicked ways).

       Obama’s Team Attacks McCain For Calling the Russians the Aggressors

Following liberal and European prevecation and denial, came the second Obamapolitik rule in the form of the personal diplomacy of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Rather than serve the Russians with an ultimatum or some other threat of real punitive action, The EU and UN relied on Sarkozy’s charm to talk the Russians down. The result was a nice photo-op, applause from the liberal media and a cease-fire the Russians have yet to honor.

Finally, Obama himself, as well as his parvenu surrogate, Bill Richardson, weighed in as to the next in dealing with the Russians. As the Russians had the temerity to violate the cease-fire and betray Sarkozy’s trust, it was obvious that stronger measures were necessary to finally intimidate the Russians into withdrawal. With great sterness and a heavy heart, Obama advocated the nuclear option of having the UN (gasp!) condemn Russia for its actions. While Obama and Richardson congratulated themselves for their Churchillian stand they both seemed to forget that Russia has a veto over any UN resolution. Whoops. Score one for the bad guys.

The result of the blitz of Obamapolitik has been very clear. Russia refuses to withdraw from Georgian territory and the West has been made impotent in the face of thuggish aggression. Clearly Russia is not afraid of idle threats or the searing tongue of the EU and UN. Realists, like those in the Kremlin, only heed the threat of force, something Barack Obama is opposed to using, even in the context of securing victory for his own nation. Obama willingly attempted to deny his nation the fruits of victory in Iraq for his own selfish ends. Can we trust this weak and foolish man to not only lead the United States but also the free world? Can Obamapolitik save the world from tyranny?

Men like Putin undoubtedly relish the thought of Barack Obama’s election. Never before (or at least since Jimmy Carter) has the most powerful nation on the planet, and incidentally the primary check against the aggressive tendencies of many a despot, been willing to surrender its power and leave the world to the wolves. To men like Putin, who apparently did not receive the memo on how the world has changed to a hopeful place, Obama is a green light for aggression. An Obama victory on November 4th would be the clarion call for all the world’s tyrants to strike. While Obama plans summits and sit-downs with Hugh Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Putin and others will be unleashing their well-planned campaigns of oppression. As Vladimir Putin so ably demonstrated this weekend, the great questions of the day, as well as the fates of entire peoples, are not decided by hope, change or Obamapolitik but by blood and iron.

Hope vs. Blood and Iron: Putin, Georgia and the Failure of Obamapolitik

Part One:
Obamapolitik and its Prophet

Russia’s invasion of its tiny neighbor, and former vassal, Georgia, has come as a great shock to the free world. Though the warning signs had been building for sometime, many in Europe and America had deluded themselves into believing that much of the globe was not ruled by thugs who could care less about world opinion. Indeed, the fantasists mocked John McCain for his warnings of a resurgent and aggressive Russia as being old fashioned and a product of a by-gone era. Now, McCain has unfortunately been proven correct in his assessment of the former KGB operative and his intentions toward what the Russians call the “near-abroad.”

So what does this all mean for Senator Obama? How can the Chosen One continue to justify foreign policy positions premised on the belief that there is no longer evil in the world? Can Obama’s hope defeat old-fashioned Realist aggression? The results on the ground in the shattered villages of Georgia say no.

To the tyrants of the world Barack Obama must seem like a positively odd phenomenon. Whereas many leaders have attempted to emulate Bismarck’s formula of Realpolitik, or the pragmatic use of diplomacy and force to achieve policy ends, Senator Obama has had great success with what can only be termed as Obamapolitik. Rather than employ the traditional principles of foreign policy, Senator Obama has grounded his positions in what can be charitably described as “wishful thinking.”

The first rule of Obamapolitik is that any international threat to the US should be downplayed. Thanks to Obama’s belief in moral relativism there is no such thing as right and wrong or good and evil. As a result, Obamapolitik holds that the US is not faced with ruthless enemies, but misunderstood people (many of whom are former victims of Western imperialism) who need understanding. As one can see, Obama’s positions on Al-Qaeda (not a real threat), Iran (merely a loud-mouthed nuisance) and Russia (they aren’t bad at all) reflect his constant devaluation of threat.

        Obamapolitik Rule One in Action

Obamapolitik’s second precept is extolling the virtues of Obama’s own personal diplomacy over traditional methods. Simply put, Senator Obama believes that US policy can be devolved completely upon his frail shoulders with regard to dealing with global bad boys like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Obama would have the world believe that his charm and charisma can single-handedly dissuade the despots of the world from engaging in their morally relative schemes.

Finally, Obamapolitik holds that if the first two rules fail, that there is such a thing as aggression and that tyrants are not fooled by Mr. Obama’s charm, the US will resort to multilateral action and diplomacy to end conflicts. Specifically, the US will call on allies in the EU, as well as the UN, to shame the aggressors into ceasing their pernicious activities by means of resolutions, emergency summits similar to that of Munich 1938, and, if all else fails, strongly worded letters. However, it should be made quite clear that no matter the crisis military force will not be used to enforce diplomatic action.

Prior to August 7th, Obamapolitik played well with the American electorate and was wildly popular, as throngs of delirious Germans demonstrated, with Europe. However, once Russian tanks began rolling across the Georgian border it seems the bubble burst.

Next:
Obamapolitik in Action: Discredited Before it Began

Very rarely are there times where you’ll find me holding a position that is opposite to one that is held by the Israeli government, at least to the point where a blog post is in order. I firmly believe that Israel has been, and remains to be a great example of the power of democracy and one of the United States’ best friends. However, today Israel made a move that I have an extremely hard time comprehending.

In a deal that would bring back the bodies of two Israeli soldiers (1st Sgt. Ehud Goldwasser and Sgt. 1st Class Eldad Regev.), the Knesset agreed to release five militants they have been holding in their prisons. However, what was even more unique about this swap, was that one of the prisoners included Samir Kuntar, by far one of the most horrific murders I’ve ever heard of.

While I’m not a fan of gorey details, I do not believe it’s possible to understand my frustration without knowing more background on what landed Kuntar in prison. This is something that has received very little news attention here, but I think it’s an extremely important story.

From CNN.com:

A member of the Palestine Liberation Front, Kuntar led a group of four men who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat in 1979. They killed a police officer who came across them. Then they took a 28-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter hostage.

Kuntar shot the father dead at close range in front of his daughter and tossed his body in the sea. He then smashed the girl’s head, killing her. In addition, a 2-year-old girl from the same family suffocated as her mother tried to stop her from crying while they hid during the violence.

Kuntar was sentenced to 542 years in prison.

In the United States, not only would this have landed you in an electric chair, but it also would have led to the first pay-per-view execution.

As an American, these actions made absolutely no sense to me. However, since I’m not an Israeli, I went and sought the opinion of someone who is there, knows the culture, and the rationale. The following is a reitiration of an online conversation with Tal Siach, Israeli blogger at Walyou.com.

If you want to know my thoughts, we the Israelis are very moral. To bring back dead bodies is important to us; they (the terorists) don’t care about it too much. They didn’t say if they’re alive or not until the last second and they made their family believe they are alive.

It’s not human whatsoever to me, Kontar killed someone and we let him go for bodies. As you can see its not an eye for an eye, I hate that, but you can do an eye for an eye with animals. I respect the families and happy their soldier will be buried in Israel, but on the same note sad for the mother who lost her son and her murderer is free now.

I don’t like the fact that the terrorists can think now that’s OK to not keep prisoners alive since dead bodies are value to us, and they know it, unlike them.

That is personally what i think.

I believe in peace and want it to happen, but there are ways every human been should act. How come we are bringing the prisoners alive, and not in coffins? Why do we keep them, feed them, and they kill ours.

me:  i read he got a college degree while in prison I’m guessing that was at your expense

For sure, we are very moral. The citizens pay for his stay, while the Hezbollah kills everything they see. Yeah , really they’re not humans, what the press is showing is not the truth; they bomb Israel.

There  are good people who do want peace in the Arab countries, I believe that. I have good friends here online, from Iran, too. But where democracy fails, it’s hard to get peace.”

While it’s extremely easy for me to illustrate my point of view, my frustration is nothing compared to what must be going through the minds of many Israeli’s today.

Even though I have a very limited number of readers in Isreal, to those who do read my blog, I encourage you to share your thoughts on this as well.

Again, a special thanks to Tal Siach for helping me get a better understanding of this. Please visit Tal’s blog here.

Even before gas prices started to inch near the $4.00 mark, one of the hot items in Washington has been a Democrat-pushed effort to try and pass a “windfall profit tax” on big oil companies.

If you work on the Hill or read the news regularly, odds are you’ve heard the concept of this tax tossed around dozens of times. However, one thing that you never hear when this is discussed is what does “windfall profits” actually mean?

Yes, I know that this effort has been blocked by Republicans in the Senate (thanks, guys), however I’m quite confident that this isn’t the last you’re going to see of this, or something similar. Take note that Harry Reid voted against this bill, just so they would have the issue back on the floor.

So the question what are “windfall profits?”

Instead of me trying to explain it, I think the Economist does it best:

A controversial concept, often used by politicians to justify imposing a tax on profit that in theory is earned unexpectedly, through circumstances beyond the control of the company concerned, and is thus deemed undeserved and ripe for the taking by the tax authorities. As the profits were neither expected nor a result of the efforts of the firm, taxing them should not harm the firm’s incentives to maximize future profits.

The problem comes when greedy politicians start claiming that profits are windfalls when in fact they are deserved and expected. Then taxing them sends a signal to firms that they should not try too hard to make profits, as if they do too well they will not get to keep the profits anyway. If this became widely believed, effort would probably decline and economic growth would be slower.

Why on earth would the government ever want to present a proposal that would suggest that if something happens beyond your control and you make money on it, you should be taxed more excessively than if they were planned occurrences? Since when was America about the government telling you what profit is reasonable?

To make this issue resonate and make it more comfortable amongst constituents, Democrats paint a nice picture of these tax dollars going towards advancements in energy independence. They make it sound like taxing evil big oil is going to save the world and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

If it wasn’t so ridiculous, their logic would be funny to me. From what I gather, the Democrats model to energy independence runs something like this:

1. Excessively tax oil companies who happen to make a profit off of selling a product to American consumers.
2. Prevent any attempts to tap into American oil reserves
3. Propose some ridiculous new government program
4. Blame the Republicans for our current energy and economic problems
5. Take a long recess

Both House and Senate Democrats (and even a few Republicans) need to get together and take a crash course in basic economic concepts. The principles of supply and demand are very powerful, and it should be no surprise to anyone that they play more of a factor in the price of oil than any executive.

Instead of listening to what the pundits are saying about the price of oil, I recommend that anyone who is interested in this issue start following what the business news channels are saying. For example, here is what you won’t hear the pundits talk about:

Citigroup raised its 2008 oil price forecast to $117 from $95 a barrel, and boosted its estimate for 2009 to $122 from $88 a barrel, citing fundamental reasons for the upward trend, driven by continued erosion of non-OPEC supply estimates, and the fact that demand, while softening, is by no means falling low enough to materially offset tightening supply. (Source: BusinessWeek.com)

When you follow the business side of the news, you often see things from a different perspective than what is being presented to you by the network news. Furthermore, if you follow international headlines, like this one from two weeks ago:

Nigerian militants warn of attacks on oil facilities

You’ll start to get a better glimpse into why we’re in the position we’re in today, as well as a better argument for why we should start tapping into some of the oil that we have here as a means to offset these unpredictable situations that are increasing the price we pay at the pump.

I know that there is a lot more to this issue; however, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people, including many Hill staffers and Members of Congress who have resorted to simply using the talking points that the majority leadership has put together, without addressing the real issues we’re facing.

Sadly, the only reason that their talking points are able to work is because the American public is so uninformed, and reliant on news outlets to digest complex stories for them.

Maybe $5.00 per gallon gasoline will lead people to start doing their homework?

—

Of course, I can’t write about oil and gas prices without providing a shameless plug to a great petition that I urge you all to sign: GasPriceProtest.com

Of all of the new online social networking technologies that have been developed in the last three years, the one that I have been the most apprehensive towards trying is Twitter.

For those who aren’t familiar with Twitter, or its concept, it’s basically a short-form blog that allows you to keep your friends, network, etc updated with what you’re doing with a just few words; the updates are comparable to the size of a text message.

Twitter is popular amongst bloggers because it allows them to share short messages with their friends and readers from their cell phones, giving them the ability to sometimes break a story as its happening.

However, it hasn’t been something that has really had all that much appeal to me. But, as I saw on CNN today, it might just be the tool to help you out of a tight spot, assuming you have the right network:

James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator Mohammed Maree were arrested April 10.On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.
The message only had one word. “Arrested.

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt — the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier — were alerted he was being held.

While it’s kind of a cool story, I don’t think that anyone should expect to be able to do that when in custody of policy in the United States.

Twitting in cuffs… maybe it’ll be a new trend.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has increased its capacity to enrich uranium dramatically. Without a doubt, this will bring them one step closer to having the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

From the Islamic Republic News Agency:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran’s nuclear program belongs to all humanity.

Speaking in the special ceremony marking Iran’s National Nuclear Day, he said the country’s nuclear program is regarded as the most significant event in the contemporary era.

Iran has successfully tested new cheaper nuclear devices in smaller dimensions that are five fold faster than the present models, he said.

The news on installations of several thousands of centrifuges is minor than the technological breakthrough Iran has made, said the president.

“We have attained remarkable achievements and success in production of magnetic alloy with new devices,” he said.

“Our new technological achievements will make a breakthrough in the country’s industrial sector in the near future,” said the president.

All are well aware of the fact that Iran’s nuclear program has turned to the most significant event in the contemporary era which goes beyond geographical borders to which the world calculations have tied up, he said.

Big powers believe that they have monopolized the nuclear energy and they can trample upon the rights of other nations, he said.

Iranian nation did not pay attention to their hue and cry and overcame all sanctions and with reliance upon almighty God and the youth fully mastered the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, said the president.

Iran’s nuclear technology is totally indigenous and no one can deprive us from such blessing because it is in the mind and heart of our scientists, he said.

The global arrogance have resorted to hue and cry to force us to give up our legitimate rights, underlined president Ahmadinejad.

After the world war II, the triumphant countries draw up a new relations to govern and dominate the whole world in order to plunder the wealth and natural resources of the world nations, said the Iranian president.

He said the reason why they create obstacles on our path of success and developments.

“The enemies for many times threaten to take military action against Iran to urge us suspend our nuclear program but to no avail”, said the president.

At a later event, Ahmadinejad also stated:

“In addition to installation of 6,000 new centrifuges, there are also reports about other new achievements which would be announced tonight at TV news program,” Ahmadinejad said.

With these advancements, I don’t think that there is anyone that can argue Iran’s threat to the West, but more importantly one of our closest allies, Israel.

A few days ago I made a post about a Hamas video and discussed how many people think American politics is ugly, when in reality compared to many parts of the world, our politics is quite civil.

A great deal of my political interests (in the foreign realm) lay in the politics of the Middle East, so I’ll probably tend to keep most of my international political discussions on those topics, however if you have something you’d like to submit, I’d be more than willing to post it.

Today’s video comes from Lebanon. This is by no means a new video, but it is extremely powerful in showing how a little propaganda can make such a destructive organization like Hezbollah seem like it is only protecting the best interest of the Lebanese people.

There are some things that have to be pointed out about this video.

First, this video was featured on Al-Manar (translation: The Beacon), which is one of the Hezbollah propaganda networks (the other being Al-Nour, which is their radio arm).

This is important to note, because this isn’t just an internet video. Following the 34-day fight with Israel, this video was an extremely important tool for boosting Hezbollah’s credibility, making them appear to be the party that will stand up for the Lebanese people and take on the Israelis.

Second, take note of the Katyusha rockets displayed throughout their video. It’s quite interesting how they can take such a primitive piece of Iranian weaponry and make it appear to be the tool that under Hezbollah leadership, can protect them from anything.

There are a lot of messages within this video that could be elaborated on further, including the music, the location in Lebanon and even the people in the video. However, if people want to give their takes on those items, I’ll leave that to the message board.

However, the one thing I want anyone who watched this video to take away is an understanding of how terrorist organizations like Hezbollah are using these sugar-coated propaganda videos to promote their cause and gain credibility amongst their people.

Whenever I watch videos like these (I have watched well over 300 different propaganda videos from the Middle East alone) I cant help but reflect on how thankful I am that we have media that will challenge other media sources, without having to worry about getting killed.

But more importantly, this video should serve as a reminder of how dangerous Iran (who funds Hezbollah) already is. Just imagine how powerful Hezbollah will be, should Iran fully develop a nuclear weapon. Not only would our key ally in the region (Israel) be in danger, but I have no doubt that our ties with the more friendly Arab nations would be put in serious jeopardy.

I welcome your thoughts on this.

I know that I continually talk about this election being ugly, however at no point am I suggesting that our elections are anywhere near the ugliest in world. Sure, they might be the most expensive, but in following some of the campaign approaches in the Middle East (particularly in Lebanon and PA), our elections seem pristine.

Check out this Hamas propaganda video that I came across today. You don’t need to speak Arabic to get the jist of it, but for those of you who don’t follow politics in the Palestinian Authority (it definitely gets crazy), the rats are Fatah and the Lion is Hamas. FYI: Hamas = funded by Iran.

Update: The original video was removed by YouTube, but I found a version from MEMRItv that has the subtitles. Even better! 

In no way is this me showing my support for either of these parties, however I think that its extremely interesting and beneficial to study the politics and campaign techniques of those in other countries to bring perspective to what is happening here in the United States. Furthermore, I think it really illustrates the barbaric mentality that some have in the Middle East. I know that Islam is suppose a religion of peace, however I have a hard time seeing that when this is a common production for Hamas.

Personally, I enjoy the civility, yet competitiveness and passion that goes into Israeli elections and as the time draws near, I’ll post much more on how they do things. Of all the countries in the world who have open elections, Israel is by far a case study that more Americans should examine. If you think the US is political, just take a trip to Jerusalem before a big campaign.

It looks like another fine US export is making its way to the shores of Puerto Rico. No, it’s not food, oil, or machinery, but instead is one of the Nation’s oldest pastimes, campaign corruption!

Even though Puerto Rico isn’t a state (it’s an non incorporated territory), it sure seems that their political problems are reflecting those commonly seen here on the mainland.

Here is some of the brief article from CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Puerto Rican Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 associates face charges related to the financing of three of Acevedo’s campaigns, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

Acevdeo faces 19 charges, including conspiracy, making false statements and wire fraud.

Acevedo, 48, and legal adviser Inclan Bird are accused of soliciting, accepting and reimbursing illegal “conduit contributions” from Acevedo’s family and staff. Conduit contributions are those made by one person in the name of another.

In addition, “a group of Philadelphia-area businessmen solicited, accepted, and then reimbursed illegal conduit contributions from their own Philadelphia-area family members and staff” on behalf of Acevedo, a Justice Department news release said.

While this alone is juicy news for us politicos, I don’t think that this story will really have wheels until this guy can top hiding money in freezer, like Congressman William Jefferson from Louisiana.

What is juicy, however, is the fact that Acevedo is in fact, an Obama supporter who has raised money for Obama. This presents a unique challenge for Obama, who has been trying hard to capture votes from various groups of Latinos. Does he condemn the Governor? Ignore it? Or talk his way around it?

We’ll see…

I stumbled across this video on YouTube from a speech that Barack Obama gave today in Greesoboro, North Carolina, regarding the economy and how John McCain is no better on the economy or internation issues than George W. Bush.

This is a bit humorous to me, simply because I cant think of one economic plan that Barack Obama has presented that would carry the economy in an even more positive direction.

I guess when both the Democrats have their own political problems their caught up in, they might as well start going after the Republican who hasn’t really had to deal with the same “back and fourth” politics the Democrats have been engaged in.